England Test centurion Courtney Lawes insists that the RFU are not giving Steve Borthwick all the tools needed to succeed at the highest level.<\/p>\n
The head coach finds himself under pressure following a disastrous Six Nations as they lost four successive matches and finished the tournament down in fifth position.<\/p>\n
Their last title came in 2020 while they have won just one Grand Slam<\/a> \u2013 in 2016 \u2013 since 2003.<\/p>\n That is not an acceptable return for the resources that England<\/a> have and Lawes has pointed to a number of areas which is harming the national team.<\/p>\n \u2018Priorities all wrong\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThat is not a great return, and I think that we have got our priorities all wrong,\u201d he wrote in his Times<\/a> column.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is too much focus on the World Cup and on long-term planning. The Six Nations is an important competition in its own right and English rugby is not set up to give ourselves the best chance of winning it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe introduction of central contracts for the England squad was overdue but they do not go far enough. The players still serve different masters. Steve Borthwick<\/a> has more influence over his core group of 25 players than any previous head coach but he cannot control how much they play or in what position.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to succeed at international level, then the head coach needs to have more say in what the players are doing, like Andy Farrell has with Ireland.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not saying that the clubs cannot be trusted. Not at all. They only have the players\u2019 best interests at heart. But their aim is to build through a season and peak in the play-offs. Meanwhile, England need players to be Test-match ready in November, again in February and then firing in July.<\/p>\n \u201cThe physical and emotional strain that places on a player can be too much. It looked to me like some of the England boys who went on the British & Irish Lions tour were struggling to hit the emotional intensity required to compete at the highest level.\u201d<\/p>\n